June 14, 2010

I've been away...
far, far away.
A place so far it required
one 8 hour flight,
one 9 hour flight,
one overnight stay in a hotel,
one 1 hour flight,
and one 30 minute drive just to get where we were actually going.
The Masai Mara.
Kenya.
Views like this were daily.
And fascinating.
The sweetie below was less than 48 hours old.
He was stumbling along... falling foward onto his knees as he tried to keep up.
I could have watched him for hours.
However... I had other things to do.
Like spending time with this little one.
Keeping him busy while his mama was receiving some much needed medical care.
Occupying others while their parents visited with one of my other highly skilled friends... the dentist.
Teaching little students important things with with the help of pictures and translators.
{English to Swahili to Masai is actually not as slow of a process as one might think.}

Visiting an orphanage where no one ever comes to adopt the little ones... they simply stay and grow up together.

And all 50 of the children call the founder of the orphanage Mom.
No... I did not bring any children home with me.
I wanted to, but it wasn't for me to do.
Instead I came home...
one 1 hour flight,
one 9 hour flight,
and one 8 hour flight...
and processed.
My 1 week blog break turned into 2.
Because apparently it takes awhile for me to process.
And recover.
I was seriously not functional for a few days there.
I'm functioning again, though.
And still processing.
I'm getting back to work.
Have you ever been away from crafting for a while and thought...
huh.
Can I still do this?
Or did I kind of lose all of my crafting knowledge while I was away?
Sometimes things would hit me while I was there and I would store them away.
The bright colors the Masai people wear (red... lots of red).
The bold patterns on their coverings.
Animal prints... on actual animals.
And now I'm processing on them.
But for my first project back... I needed to go back to my basics.
To see if I could.
Because after not putting glue to paper for so long... I was afraid it was gone.

Simple.
Comfortable.
Home.
Whew.
I miss Africa.
I miss the landscape.
I miss the wildlife.
I miss the children.
I miss the people.
I miss the goal.
But I'm glad to be home.
Because I missed the landscape of my house.
Filled up with my own personal wildlife.
My children.
My husband.
And I missed this, too.

Jess,Your trip sounds amazing, and trying to explain it all in one blog post, is probably a huge hurdle, but I am so glad you shared some of your experience with us. Glad you are home. {{hugs}}psthe card is cute...almost forgot about that part hee!

We missed you!!! What an amazing time away! How did you get involved in the work you were doing there in Kenya? It is something I'd love to do one day. Though I'm not sure I'd be as strong as you and leave without a few new babies!!!

So neat you could go on your little adventure! These things change you! One of my DD's would have so wanted to have gone with you, she has a heart for Africa. Glad you are back and can share what you saw.

Welcome back Jessica. I'm a little behind on my blog reading. I've been to Africa once and just one of my flights was 14 hours long! Of course I was going to Botswana in the south. It looks like you had an amazing trip! I wish you could have brought home a kid for me!

And I do lose my will to create sometimes, but then I remember how much I need that creative outlet!